St. Mary of Lourdes/St. James

Planning Advisory Committee

Minutes of July 16, 2003

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by Gary Loertscher. Members present were: Gary Loertscher, Ken Klink, Yogi Brown, Tory Schauff, Jerry Jansen, Joe Donlin, Gerard Rabas, Carol Eberhardy, Doug Waelti, Kay Parish, Mike Warmuth, Tim Blair, Carla Wolf, Teri Nolden, Robert Hoffman, Pauline Fahey, Barb Wachter, Jerry Remy, Tim Stadelman, James Kniffin.

The meeting opened with a prayer by kk.

The minutes of June 18, 2003, were reviewed and accepted.

Ken Klink, Teri Nolden, and Gary Loertscher gave an overview of the joint meeting of the St. Mary and St. James parish councils. At that meeting, it was decided to initiate a pledge campaign.

Discussion was held about reaction to the decision to start a pledge campaign.

· Gary Loertscher received one phone call and kk received one call expressing concern that the decision to move to a pledge campaign did not reflect the results of the election based upon “non votes being interpreted as no votes”. Teri Nolden, parish council president, has received no feedback.

· An article was published in the Belleville Recorder indicating that the decision had been made to move ahead to a pledge campaign; the article did not get into the “specifics” of the joint meeting of the parish councils and how the decision was reached to move ahead (other than the strong 5-1 positive ratio of returned ballots).

· Bob Hoffman emphasized the role of the planning committee as being visionary and planning for the future.

· Tim Blair indicated more information should be put out about the breakdown of the cost of the new complex (cost of the church, cost of the hall/education center, etc.).

· Carol Eberhardy stated that in future communications, it is important to present it in terms of moving ahead; use it as an introduction to the fundraising campaign.

· kk indicated it is important for people to know the consequences of not moving forward (increased maintenance cost of existing facilities, inflation of building costs, increasing overcrowding).

· There is some confusion connected with the vote (exactly what was being voted on; how non-votes could be interpreted).

The general consensus of the committee was that it must continue to present more information; strategies will include:

· Put minutes of the planning committee meeting on the Website and in the back of both churches.

· kk will address with the congregations how the decision was made to move ahead.

· The joint parish councils and the planning committee have both unanimously endorsed moving head to the fundraising campaign.

Joe Donlin suggested we start investigating the possibility of utilizing a professional fundraiser. That person would be a valuable resource in future communication with parishioners.

kk showed the first half of a video on stewardship; primary points of the video were:

· Stewardship is a matter of heart

· Stewardship is about gratitude

· Stewardship is a life of prayer

· Stewardship is a life of ministry and giving involves much more than money; “what is your gift?”

· Stewardship is a life of sharing

· Stewardship has the power to change life

Characteristics of a good steward include:

· being grateful

· nurturing gifts responsibly

· sharing justly/sacrificially

· returning gifts abundantly

The next meeting of the planning committee will be on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.